A selection of the wonderful entries into BookOpolis 2009. Click on thumbnail images to see larger.

Photos by Bridget Conn.

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Video of BookOpolis 2009 by LeeAnne Smith.

Best Adult: "Erudite Crudite" by Tom Sherry/ Anne Alston

On April 1, 2009, Asheville BookWorks hosted Asheville’s first International Edible Book Festival. The Edible Book Festival, established in 2000 has since expanded throughout the world. According to the festival’s founder’s, ”this ephemeral global banquet… is a celebration of the ingestion of culture and a way to concretely share a book; it is also a deeper reflection on our attachment to food and our cultural differences”. The event is held on April Fools’ Day because it is the perfect day to “eat you words and play with them.”

Proceeds from this event fund scholarships for classes at BookWorks for residents of Asheville and surrounding communities.

As a bookbinder, Steve Pittelkow’s interest in marbled designs stems from a longtime desire to personalize his own books with distinctive papers and cloth. Steve especially enjoys teaching the craft and revealing the secrets for successful marbling. Over the years, Steve has experimented with a wide variety of paints and papers in his quest for materials that allow students a rich and successful marbling experience. His papers appear in museum and library collections and are used by binders and book artists nationally and internationally.

Click to see workshops Steve is teaching.

Katherine McGinn is a studio artist and instructor residing in Asheville, NC. Having studied Illustration, printmaking and sculpture her work crosses borders between printmaking, installation, drawing and painting. She received her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA in printmaking from Edinboro University. Katherine has taught printmaking at Edinboro University and drawing at the Virginia Museum School. She has also assisted with Master Printer Kathy Caraccio in NY, NY as well as at Penland School of Craft. Katherine has taught printmaking at Warren Wilson College and as an Artist Fellows with Arts For Life at Mission Children’s Hospital. Currently she is working on creating her first artist book as well as teaching workshops on monotype at Asheville Bookworks.

For more information on her work, visit: www.katherineMcGinn.com

Click to see workshops Katherine is teaching.